English translation of selected plays

In an effort to share Gursharan Singh’s signature street plays with non-Punjabi readers, the Trust started English translation of plays. It’s a joint effort led by friends and comrades. Dinesh Sharma, who has done most of the translations, is an IT professional. He said he could do the translations because many of these plays were part of everyday life during his college years in Punjab in the 1980s. He remembered watching the street performances and this is reflected in the translations as he captures the idiom of these political satires. Tejinder Kaur, another translator, also lent her hand in the same spirit. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Sadhu Binning and Sukirat Anand for going over the translations and providing helpful comments.

Gursharan Singh has written over 200 plays which are added in the website. He began writing street plays in early 1970s and continued till about 2009. The ten street plays which have been translated represent the distinct periods – the political economic crisis of the early 1970s, the state of Emergency in 1975; 1980s, the period of state terrorism and religious fundamentalism, 1984 state-engineered violence against Sikhs and, finally, the continued oppression of the Dalits. We hope to continue this work and bring more play translations to share.

Following are the translated plays.